Job Discussion Forums

[gloomyGumi]

Do you think in general that the net amount of ESL jobs available at any given point in the academic year (different countries' semesters start at different times) has declined significantly from, say, 5 years ago?

What is your general observation about availablility in Asia compared to what it was in 2005 or so? Perhaps demand in some countries has declined while in others it has increased. This could be due to big changes in government requirements, or general economic downturns.

Perhaps we can be country-specific rather than speaking of Asia in general. In sum, has English language learning become even more in demand, or is it steadily becoming less of a priority? Seeing China as really rising to number one on the world stage in just about every way, wouldn't Mandarin reasonably become the more-desired language within the next few years?

[tttompatz]

2005 - Korea had 15,000 E2s issued. 2009 they had 30,000.
China (SAFEA) is predicting an on-going demand of 50,000 NEW ESL teachers per year (plus current staffing) over the next decade (SAFEA suggesting as many as of a 1/2 million foreign teachers by 2025).

15,000 legal teachers in Thailand now (with an estimated 15,000 more who are not) and continued growth due to increasing demand in the government schools.

Japan is fairly stagnant at an estimated 15,000 (JET estimations).

Taiwan is again fairly stable in the ESL department but continues to import licensed teachers at a fairly constant rate.

The markets for ESL in Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, et al continue to grow.

With the current demand for ESL in China, English well entrenched as the global lingua franca and more than 60 countries list it as an official language) I don't see demand falling over the next 2-3 decades unless there is a major catastrophe that shuts down global trade, travel, commerce and communication.

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[gloomyGumi]

[Sadebugo]

[Glenski]

ttompatz, I'd be interested in knowing where you got those figures.

JET ALT numbers have been going down since 2002. The 2 biggest conversation schools here went bankrupt recently, putting many on the street. Although a lot were picked up again, I suspect many did not remain. Total for those 2 employers was in the thousands.

Population in Japan is declining, so schools are closing or merging. Other conversation schools are closing. Therefore, I'd have to say the Japan market isn't "stagnant", but declining.

[steki47]

[gloomyGumi]

4 sure china is not declining! plenty of esl jobs there.

[tttompatz]

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